Next to You
by mitzykitty
Summary: Fate brings two distraught people back into each other's lives. Together, they will find the answers to some of life's most challenging questions. Contestshipping. DAML
1. Back Out

Never has she felt so humiliated, so hurt, so… _defeated._

Today was easily the worst day of her life.

Not once had she ever been so emotional about losing. Sure, she cried when she first lost, but that was when she was just beginning her career. She was always a good sport when she lost. She would come to terms that she lost because she needed more training and to be more focused. Losing meant she still has more to learn and to gain more experience; they humbled her.

"May! _May!_" a voice cried out as she ran out of the building.

May ignored the voice, whoever's voice that was. She couldn't focus. Her brain was plagued with the moments that just happened prior before she darted out of the Contest Hall.

All was well earlier today. May made it to the final battle of the Pokémon Contest. This was her last chance to win a ribbon to participate in the Grand Festival.

May was completely sure of herself that she would win the ribbon. There was no room for defeat. She knew there was no way she could even lose, not with this being her last chance. _No, _May told herself. _I will not lose. I don't know what I would do if I lost._

Blaziken was doing exceptionally well against a coordinator's Dragonite. It was obvious that the coordinator and Dragonite were not well experienced. The coordinator, whose name May didn't get, was extremely nervous. He had heard that May was a wonderful coordinator. Dragonite seemed to be just as nervous as its coordinator. It often ignored commands for it was extremely fearful of getting hurt.

May thought how easy this was going to be. This was one of the more simple contests she had participated in. None of the coordinators that attended _barely_ had a chance against May and Blaziken.

With every attack Blaziken had thrown, Dragonite quickly dodged it. There was twenty-seven seconds left until the timer stopped. It was just practically waiting to call May's name.

The male coordinator was sweating to no end. It seemed that he desperately wanted to win. He shifted his weight, nervous beyond extremes.

_I guess it's time to finish this, _thought May. "Alright, Blaziken, finish this show with blaze kick!"

"Blaze!" Blaziken said, nodding to its trainer.

"Ugh, no, no, _no!" _the opposing coordinator yelled, clearly frustrated with the fact that he was going to lose.

Dragonite looked over at its trainer, its brows furrowed. It glared at Blaziken, rage seemed to fume throughout its body. The dragon Pokémon seemed to prepare itself to dodge Blaziken's incoming attack.

Suddenly, its hand began to glow as it went head on to Blaziken.

May was extremely confused, almost as confused looking as her opponent.

Dragonite flew as fast as it could to the large chicken-like Pokémon. Both Pokémon crashed into the ground, causing the sand off the ground to fly in all directions, covering the entire field.

"Blaziken!" screamed May. Her eyes tried to search through the cloud of dust. Her beloved Blaziken was nowhere in sight.

A flapping of wings could be heard as Dragonite flew up out of the cloud. Dragonite used gust to blow all of the dust away, revealing Blaziken sprawled out on the ground.

The entire audience was silent with the exception of Nurse Joy gasping at her seat on the judges' panel.

Blaziken was clearly weakened. May didn't have any time to call out an attack as Dragonite began to fly in a spiral down to Blaziken and released an incredibly powerful dragon rage.

May dropped down to her knees and looked away from the field.

"Congratulations to Dragonite and its coordinator-"

May didn't even bother to listen to the rest. She quickly held out her Pokéball to return Blaziken and ran out as fast as she could.

Currently, May had no idea where the hell she was. She didn't even seem to care. Actually, she couldn't even remember the name of the town she just ran out of.

She ran for about an hour, not knowing where this strength came from. It seemed she had so much adrenaline from losing that she didn't tire out until just now.

May looked up for the first time since dashing from the Contest Hall. She was in a forest, apparently. The only sounds that could be heard was the wind softly blowing and May's heavy breathing.

_I should have at least brought some water with me. Why couldn't I run to the Pokémon center where I left all my stuff?_ May thought to herself. She swore under her breath.

May guessed it was around six in the afternoon. She also guessed that she was lost. Correction - v_ery_ lost. The sun was setting, bringing a bit of anxiety to May. She didn't want to out in a forest and hungry all night. She knew that she had to get back in town to make sure her Blaziken will be okay.

May began to walk around without paying any particular type of attention on anything. Surprisingly, May wasn't even hungry. She was too angry, too upset with herself.

_Everybody must think I'm a loser. _

With that negative thought in mind, May began to think about how unprofessional she must have appeared. Her friends are probably shaking their head, shameful of how _stupid _she acted.

_What do they know? They don't know why I'm like this. I can't help it if- _

Her thoughts were interrupted by this strange buzzing sound. At first, May thought it was her headache. She accepted this to be true until it got became louder. May turned around, only to discover the buzzing was not her.

May screamed.

A large group of Beedrill was headed her way.

She ran for it.

Her feet couldn't take her very far but it didn't seem to matter as there was a dead-end in where she was running to. Her mind was too terrified to even think about the extremely large rock that May couldn't ever climb over. May couldn't even think about pulling out her Pokémon.

A Beedrill quickly hurried up to May, angry that she trespassed onto their land. The Beedrill hit May with its painfully sharp stingers, injecting a poison.

May made it to the dead-end, pressing herself against the cold stone, hoping to become one with the wall. Her eyelids were shut.

A brilliant flash of light could be felt. When May opened her eyes, the group of Beedrill was sprawled out on the ground, motionless.

The next thing she knew, she fell to the ground, groaning in pain as the world turned black.

* * *

Constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated! This is my first story & I would love to hear your opinions on my writing.

I tried writing a Pokémon story when I was, like, ten. It was the worst thing ever.

With that being said, I'll update this asap. It will be kind of a long story but I actually like long stories.

Also, I know you guys are like "why is may a whiney hoe oh mai gawsh". It'll make sense later, promise.

Have a great day!

- Maritza


	2. Where Do We Go From Here?

May awoke to an excruciatingly painful pounding in her head.

_Did anybody catch the herd of Tauros that got me? _May wondered. Suddenly, her memory flooded back into her mind. Losing the contest, running away, getting lost, and being attacked by the Beedrill.

All those thoughts quickly turned to nothing as May attempted to sit up. There was this overwhelming sensation of nausea running throughout her entire body. She wanted to vomit but held it inside her.

May's eyes fluttered open slowly for the first time. She couldn't make out any objects in front of her, forcing her to close her eyes.

"Hey, you need to sit back down. You still haven't completely recovered yet. You got hurt pretty badly so take it easy," said a voice, completely startling May.

"What? Who's there?" asked May. May tried to sit up more but was hit by another wave of nausea, much worse than when she first got up.

"Shh, it's okay. You're safe, May," the voice told her. May felt a pair of hands gently push her down by her shoulders onto what seemed to be a sleeping mat. Her eyes opened once more. Fortunately, her eyesight had improved.

A pair of cobalt green eyes was looking down at her.

"Drew?"

"The one and only," Drew said with his signature smirk.

'But h-how? Wh-wha-what?"

"Will you be finishing any of these sentences?"

May was _not _in the mood for jokes. May quickly sat up to give Drew a piece of her mind, immediately regretting her actions. A harsh pain rung throughout her abdominal area; May gritted her teeth, holding back tears.

"Damn, I'm sorry, May. I'm just used to picking on you. You really need to rest. You got hurt pretty bad yesterday," Drew apologized. He helped May lay back down on the mat. She looked up at him, quite confused about the whole situation.

"Whatever. Wait… _Yesterday?_ I got hurt earlier today, though! It's night time right now…"

"Uh, no, you got attacked yesterday afternoon."

"But what happened?" May inquired.

Drew looked at her sternly. "That's what I would like to know. You took off after the Pokémon Contest crying your eyes out. It's not the first time you've lost a Contest, you know."

May sighed. "But it'll be my last."

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean that I'm done being a coordinator."

"You're giving up after losing just one contest? Are you _serious_?" Drew couldn't believe it. This was not the May he knew. The May he knew would never, _ever _give up like this.

May glared. "You have no idea why I ran away! Seriously, Drew! How could you be so insensitive?"

"I'm sorry about that," said Drew. "That just doesn't sound like you. Why did you run away?"

May sighed, again. "Do you remember when I left to go to the Wallace Cup in Sinnoh?" Drew nodded. "When I went back to Johto, I got a call that my dad had a tumor. He wanted me to take over the Petalburg Gym until he got better. Well, I did take over for a year and I did really well. After my dad got better, he didn't seem to want to be the gym leader anymore; he wanted me to be the official gym leader from then on.

I told him that my heart was set on being a coordinator. He just… he couldn't stand that. We then made a deal where if I didn't win the Grand Festival, I quit being a coordinator.

He became such a different person after the cancer. He took all of my ribbons from the Hoenn region away. I had to come back and get them. Well, most of them," May finished.

May was quite surprised that Drew had stayed quiet and attentive when she spoke. She rolled over to her side, putting pressure on her side gash. May then noticed that she was wearing a sweatshirt which she assumed to be Drew's. She then faintly remembered that her shirt had been torn off by the Beedrill who attacked her.

"I'm sorry, May," Drew said, interrupting May's thoughts. "That… really sucks."

"Yeah," May agreed.

"So, you're basically running away?"

"I guess so."

Drew raised an eyebrow. "Do you even know where you're going?"

"Not really," May said truthfully. "I just want to get out of here."

"I can see why," Drew said. "It doesn't help that we're in Petalburg Woods now, too."

May flinched. She had completely forgotten where she was. The Pokemon Contest yesterday was in Petalburg City.

"You okay? Do you need water?" Drew asked.

"No, no. I'm fine," May replied. "Wait…"

"What?"

"What are you doing here in Petalburg? Last I remember is the second I got to Johto from the Wallace Cup, you left immediately and didn't even talk to me after all this time. Why did you leave? Why are you even here?"

"To answer your first question: I had to go back home. For your second question: I heard there was a contest here and I thought I'd see you in it."

"You chased me after I left?" wondered May.

"Yeah, I was worried. I didn't know what was going on," Drew told her. "I'm glad I did too. The Beedrill weren't exactly nice to you."

"You saved me?"

"Of course. How could I let my only worthy opponent get hurt?"

"Thank you, Drew," May said softly.

"It was actually mostly Roserade's work. I told it to use SolarBeam on the Beedrill. There were swarms of Beedrill, it was crazy. Roserade took them all out before any more got to you. The Beedrill actually belong to some guy who brought all of his Beedrill from Kanto to here in Hoenn. He took them all back to Kanto after what happened."

"That is crazy. I hope Roserade is okay."

"It'll be fine. It was pretty tired from it all but it used Aromatherapy to help you out a bit. It couldn't do much unfortunately. Roserade is resting right now so don't worry, May."

"Alright. Thanks, Drew," May smiled.

"No problem. There's really no need to thank me, I know I'm a kind-hearted person," Drew said, flicking his hair.

May rolled her eyes. _He's exactly the same, _May thought.

She immediately realized how oh, _so_ wrong she was. Drew had definitely grown in the last couple of years. He had become much taller and was pretty fit. It seemed that Drew had been going to gym quite often; his muscles practically begged to be touched. His face elongated with the most flawless jaw line May had ever witnessed. Drew still had his confidence but it was in a much less bumptious.

_Damn these last couple of years has been good to him._

As soon as she realized she was staring, May turned away blushing. Thankfully, Drew had been tending whatever it was inside of a pot on a small fire next to them.

"Here, May," Drew said whilst startling May. He poured a warm liquid into a small cup. "This won't be the best thing you ever tasted but you'll feel much better after it. It's Remeyo weed. Luckily, I always have this on me."

May took the cup from Drew and swallowed some of its contents. The brunette gagged from the flavor but knew it was best to finish it.

"Ugh, that is plain awful!" May whined.

"You'll thank me later. Just try to rest now, okay? You need it," he said with a smile that made May's accelerate.

May smiled back. "You're not the same Douche Drew I remember you to be."

Drew chuckled. "Douche Drew? Was that really my nickname?"

"I couldn't help it since you were a douche!"

"Somebody _had _to annoy you, so I decided that I'd be that person."

"Whatever, Drew."

Drew's face became humorless. "So, what are you going to do now? You don't seem like you're going back home."

"I have no idea," May admitted. "I want to go somewhere new and different. I don't want to be anywhere where my dad could guess where I could be."

"I get you," Drew said. "What about Sinnoh?"

"Nah, I didn't particularly find it exciting."

"How about Unova?"

"U…soba?"

Drew stared. "Didn't you ever take a geography class?"

"I-uh… Honestly, I always failed geography."

"Wow. Why am I not surprised?" Drew asked aloud, ignoring May's death glare. "Unova is a region with entirely different Pokémon and it's pretty far from here. They also have

Pokémon Contests there too."

"No way! Urvuva sounds so cool!" May squealed.

"Unova," Drew corrected. "Yeah, it does. I was planning on going there after this contest. You want to come?"

May was jumping up and down of excitement as best she could while still be laying down. "Yes! Oh my gosh, we can travel together again! But this time you better not ditch me!"

"I promise I won't if you don't get too annoying," he joked. "We'll head out to Slateport City tomorrow, if you're feeling better."

"Then we can go to Uluver!"

Drew facepalmed.


End file.
